The following ideas are being explored in secondary classrooms, 2014. More examples of responses will follow. All feedback gratefully received.

'MIGRATION' - this is a charged, live topic, so teachers should approach this with caution and sensitivity.

Shaun Tan's 'The Arrival' has been extensively used in both Primary and Secondary schools since its publication in 2006 (cf YouTube 'Using ShaunTan's 'The Arrival' in the classroom). However, choosing texts to be read alongside it, needs to take into account the age and background of the readers, as well as the currency of the text. What follows is not for the faint-hearted.

The following sequence involves the following:

Using pictures as a stimulus for writing

Pastiche - juxtaposing pictures from one text with words from another (find any texts which 'speak to each other')

Close reading to extend range of written genres and registers

Exploring cultural resonance

Discussing grammar

The power of particularity

The effects of foreshadowing (step 6)

Resources: Wordless picture text: 15 copies (1 between 2) of pages 6 and 7 (actually the second and third picture pages) from 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan - 9 small pictures on the left-hand page (photograph being wrapped up and placed in suitcase) and one larger one on the facing page of the man and his wife holding hands. The following youtube link will show you the pages in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToRVZZeYLoQNewspaper report: 15 copies of (or extracts from)14.1.2014 edition of The Guardian - special report: migration, pp16-17. I have used Patrick Kingsley's report from Egypt. The following link will show you Patrick Kingsley's Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/14/syrian-palestinian-refugee-egypt-mahmoud

1. 'Read' the first Chapter of Shaun Tan's 'The Arrival'. Talk about issues of representation (race/class/gender) and provenance (Shaun Tan's experience of Australia/ his use of photographs of Ellis Island). The effect of the style of drawing and the period represented are worth discussing. Who would you like to be? Not like to be ? What connections can you make to your own life and your understanding of the world?

2. Return to pages 2 and 3 (see above). Challenge writers to work in pairs or small groups to attach a single word or phrase to each one of the 9 small pictures. Explore the effect of attaching nouns or verbs only (what are the hands 'doing'?); try adjectives; try prepositions; try a nine-word sentence. Discuss 'warm' and 'cold' words, by considering the different emotional 'temperature' reached by attaching words and phrases such as 'photograph' or 'family' or 'together' or 'the three of us' to the top left picture. (This will have a bearing on how a similar image is 'read' in chapter 2.)

Image from 'The Arrival'

3. Discuss the openings of stories by asking, 'Where does this story start?' and consider the effects of different kinds of sentences that might be attached to the scene of the picture on page 3 - a line of dialogue, a descriptive statement, a foreshadowing, a question.

4. Create a 'class poem' by writing down suggested sentences and arranging them in order - introducing a refrain. The following are first drafts and might be trimmed, scanned and patterned for further effect.

e.g. 1 from Birmingham writers 28.1.2014

Time to let go

Time to let go.Letting go of the past to hope for a better future.

Time to let go.A family divided by dreams.

Time to let go.Heavy heart.

e.g 2 from Reading writers 28.2.2014 having shaped the first responses, following clues of tense, person and pattern

Leaving

Living with loss:"I'll see you again."

Losing my life:"I am sad to be leaving."

Leaving, it costs."I don't want to go."

Loving you now."I know."

Since we have all, at one time or another, left one location and gone to another, we can reflect on the reasons and choices available to us. Whose point of view will we choose - and what difference does it make? This exercise can generate personal writing of all kinds. For some groups, it may be enough to stop here and use this as a jumping-off point for further writing.

5. Now give copies of (extracts from)14.1.2014 Guardian - special report: migration, pp16-17. Challenge pairs to 'find' words or phrases from the Guardian article that might be attached to each picture from 'The Arrival'.

Consider the use of enlarged highlighted phrases used in print journalism (e.g. the enlarged out-take 'In the water I could just hear screams. My friend rescued a little girl but she was already dead.') Challenge them to find a phrase or sentence that might appear enlarged. Now discuss the effects of accompanying it as a caption to the picture on p.3 of 'The Arrival'.

6. Attempt a longer piece of writing in response to any of the ideas or pictures.

One question which might provoke ideas for writing - or research - is 'how many stories are there hidden within this text?' eg the fishermen's story, Mahmoud's story, the coastguard's story - and that's not counting the story of Alexandria, the story of December ("I am the last month of the year ..."). Having shared a few ideas, follow-up questions would be, 'which of these stories is it most important to tell? who or what is least able to tell their story? why? and what are we not told?' This may require some online research.

After writing it can be useful to return to page 1 of Shaun Tan's 'The Arrival' and challenge writers to revisit their writing and take out 9 objects/words/phrases from what they have written. These can then be attached to the front of their writing, a bit like 'key words'. Such an exercise can provoke a discussion of the effects of foreshadowing.

7. Sharing in pairs or as a whole group may follow. It will certainly be useful to allow talk time since the topic may have aroused strong or difficult feelings.

See also a related exercise: Your life in the world (see Writing ideas - Memories)